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As a truck driver, it’s not always easy to stay healthy and eat right. Every exit you pass you’ll see easy-to-eat fast-food restaurants advertised on the big blue interstate logo signs. Fortunately, there are plenty of healthy snacks for truck drivers that will satisfy your taste buds and satisfy your hunger.
Adding these 10 different types of healthy snacks will help you have a better diet while you're out on the road.
Before we cover each snack, keep in mind that eating anything in excess can be bad for your diet. The best way to avoid that is to maintain a well-rounded diet. Also, be sure to only eat at truck stops. Distracted driving can be a danger to you and others on the road.
A great healthy snack that you can prepare before you go out on the road is apple slices and peanut butter. The great thing about apples and peanut butter is that they have healthy components on their own.
Apples contain fiber and a healthy amount of carbs. Adding fiber to your diet will help improve your digestive functions.
Peanut butter on the other hand has healthy fats and is an excellent source of protein. The healthy fat within peanut butter is called monounsaturated fat. This particular type of fat is good for your heart.
There is plenty of other nut butter that you could use in place of peanut butter as well.
Since we’re on the topic of apples, just about any type of fresh fruit will have nutritional value. Some popular and easy to find fruits that you could try adding to your diet are:
Fruits like these are great and easy to find at any grocery store you might go to either before you head on the road or during your journey. Dried fruits also provide many health benefits. Some dried fruits include:
While there are slight differences across fruits, many of them contain good amounts of fiber and vitamins.
Not only is trail mix a healthy snack, but there are also numerous recipes that you can get creative with. Trail mix allows you to combine the healthy benefits of eating different types of nuts and fruits all at once.
There are many different variations but every recipe will have at least have these ingredients:
Some trail mix recipes may include unhealthy ingredients. Oftentimes these unhealthy ingredients are candy or cereal.
Having these in your trail mix will add some extra flavor but it's important to not go overboard. Too many unhealthy ingredients could cancel the healthy benefits of the rest of the mix’s healthier benefits.
The trick with picking protein bars (also known as granola bars) is picking a bar with the right ingredients. Some protein bar ingredients have more nutritional value than others.
The brand making the protein bar is another important factor as well. Many protein bars have the same type of ingredients that you would find in trail mix.
Looking over the ingredient labels is important when picking the right protein bars. The key ingredients that you want to stay away from are sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup and large amounts of sugar.
Choosing the right protein bar will give you a good boost of protein and some of the same types of vitamins you would find in fruit.
Salads have many nutritional benefits and that even makes them a good option for actual meals. Eating salads will help improve your digestion. That is because salads have water and fiber which makes it easier for the body to digest food.
Another benefit to eating salads is that they can help you lose weight. That's because salads are low in calories and the extensive chewing you have to do will make you feel more full.
Beef jerky is another great snack that boosts protein. However, like with protein bars, you should be careful with what type of jerky you choose to use.
Many jerky brands add flavoring that will reduce the jerky’s nutritional value. Additionally, jerky brands will add large amounts of sugar or sodium.
When choosing beef jerky try to aim for ones that have less than 300 mg of sodium. Avoid jerky that has large amounts of sugar and flavoring.
Cheese and crackers are great snacks to help maintain a healthy diet. On its own, there are many benefits to be reaped from eating cheese. For instance, calcium and healthy fats can be found in various types of cheese.
Cheese also has many types of vitamins A and B-12. Crackers make for a great addition to the flavor of the cheese. However, you can add in other foods with your cheese and crackers like fruit.
Dark chocolate makes for a sweet snack that also has added health benefits. One of the benefits to eating dark chocolate are the antioxidants inside of it that fight disease.
Like many of the snacks we’ve listed, you can pair dark chocolate with other foods. One popular combination is dark chocolate and almonds.
Be sure that the dark chocolate that you use isn’t with large amounts of sugar or saturated fat, otherwise, its nutritional value will be negated.
Another convenient and easy-to-store snack is kale chips. Within kale chips are fiber, antioxidants and minerals. In addition to that, kale chips offer about 150 calories. You can find kale chips at holistic grocery stores or you can find a recipe to make your own.
These types of seeds might be popular amongst baseball players as much as they are truck drivers. Like nuts, sunflower seeds contain a mixture of healthy fats. Sunflower seeds also contain magnesium which is great for your heart.
Eating good food is just one way of staying healthy. Another way is by doing what you can to exercise. Our article on exercises for truck drivers will show you how you can stay mobile during free time you have on the road.
At ABCO Transportation, you have the chance to find many different trucker jobs all across the country. You can even find jobs that are close to where you live if you don’t want to move to find work.
We can promise you that working for ABCO as a driver will be the best experience you’ll ever have as a truck driver. Not only will you have steady work, but you will also have a flexible schedule that will still give you plenty of precious time with your friends and loved ones.
Navigate to our jobs page and see what opportunities await you there.
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